15 h. ago At UN climate conference, some activists and scientists want more talk on reforming agriculture

Many of the activists, scientists and government leaders at United Nations climate talks underway in Brazil have a beef: They want more to be done to transform the world’s food system

Politics

3 d. ago The UK used to be a world leader on climate – does it still count?

With aid cuts and the forthcoming Budget hanging over the UK, many groups have been disappointed at the country’s apparently lacklustre performance at Cop30. Even Labour MPs at the conference are worried the country is losing the argument. Nick Ferris reports from Belém, Brazil

Politics

3 d. ago The Congo basin may be the world’s most important rainforest – why is it the least researched?

It is the second-largest tropical forest on Earth, and one of the most vital carbon sinks, but is losing out when it comes to climate policy and fundingIn October 2023, leaders, scientists and policymakers from three of the world’s great rainforest regions – the Amazon, the Congo, and the Borneo-Mekong basins – assembled in Brazzaville, capital of the Republic of Congo. They were there to discuss one urgent question: how to save the planet’s last great tropical forests from accelerating destruction.For those present, the question was existential. But to their dismay, almost no one noticed. “There was very little acknowledgment that this was happening, outside of the Congo basin region,” says Prof Simon Lewis, a lecturer at the University of Leeds and University College London, and co-chair of the Congo Basin Science Initiative (CBSI). Continue reading...

Politics

3 d. ago The rainforest the world forgot: the Congo basin is the second largest on Earth, so why is it being neglected?

It is one of the world’s most vital carbon sinks, but this tropical rainforest is losing out when it comes to climate policy and fundingIn October 2023, leaders, scientists and policymakers from three of the world’s great rainforest regions – the Amazon, the Congo, and the Borneo-Mekong basins – assembled in Brazzaville, capital of the Republic of Congo. They were there to discuss one urgent question: how to save the planet’s last great tropical forests from accelerating destruction.For those present, the question was existential. But to their dismay, almost no one noticed. “There was very little acknowledgment that this was happening, outside of the Congo basin region,” says Prof Simon Lewis, a lecturer at the University of Leeds and University College London, and co-chair of the Congo Basin Science Initiative (CBSI). Continue reading...

Politics

5 d. ago South Pacific nation of Tuvalu rebukes Trump’s ‘shameful disregard’ at Cop30

Minister from islands facing extinction is one of few delegates directly calling out Trump’s climate policiesOf all the representatives from 193 countries present at the crucial UN climate talks in Belém, Brazil, only one has summoned the courage to take the stage and publicly denounce the absent and hostile Trump administration: the climate minister of tiny Tuvalu.On Monday, Maina Vakafua Talia told leaders and diplomats at the Cop30 summit that Donald Trump had shown a “shameful disregard for the rest of the world” by withdrawing the US from the Paris climate agreement. Continue reading...

Politics

8 d. ago Once a global leader on climate action, the EU has given in to the right’s green

From deforestation to emissions trading, vital policies are being watered down in the name of ‘competitiveness’. But Europe is shooting itself in the footClimate action has long been a flagship European policy. As negotiators gather in Brazil for Cop30, however, Europe’s leadership risks faltering. Things were very different a decade ago in Paris, when a landmark deal to limit global heating to 1.5C was achieved at Cop21. That agreement relied on an understanding between the US and China – one that would be difficult to replicate today. Its ambition was elevated by Europe acting in concert with a broad coalition of global south countries.The Paris climate agreement paved the way for the European Green Deal in 2019, which enshrined into law the ambition of climate neutrality in the EU by 2050 and introduced the world’s first comprehensive plan to achieve it, featuring a robust set of pricing, regulatory and funding measures.Nathalie Tocci is a Guardian Europe columnist Continue readi...

Politics

1 week ago Scottish minister named one of Time Magazine’s top 100 climate leaders in the world

The SNP Cabinet secretary has made the list compiled by Time Magazine

Politics

1 week ago Climate talks start with call for faster action and more togetherness, but without the US

U.N. climate negotiations begin Monday with leaders urging urgency and cooperation to curb global warming

Politics

1 week ago Cop ahoy! Sailing up the Amazon to the climate summit – podcast

Jonathan Watts sets off on a three-day boat trip down the Amazon – with indigenous leaders, scientists, artists and more – to report on Cop30, the climate summit taking place this year in BrazilThis week, delegations from countries from all over the world are flying into Belem, Brazil, to attend Cop30, the world’s biggest climate summit.The Guardian’s global environment reporter Jonathan Watts, however, had a different idea – to take the slow road. Or, in fact, the slow boat – a three-day journey up the Amazon, across hundreds of kilometres, to arrive in Belem just in time. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Lula’s balancing act: Cop30 Amazon summit juggles climate and social priorities

Brazil’s president welcomes world leaders while navigating divided government, promising action on deforestation and emissionsHow could the Tropical Forest Forever Facility tackle deforestation?Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has welcomed world leaders to Belém for the first climate summit in the Amazon, where conservationists hope he can be a champion for the rainforest and its people.But with a divided administration, a hostile Congress and 20th-century developmentalist instincts, this global figurehead of the centre left has a balancing act to perform in advocating protection of nature and a reduction of emissions. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Over 100 US leaders to attend Cop30 climate summit as Trump stays away

Dozens of US state and local leaders will be at talks in Brazil with president’s team expected to send no representativesThe Trump administration appears to be sitting out this month’s United Nations climate talks known as Cop30, telling the Guardian it will not deploy any high-level representatives to the negotiations.But dozens of US subnational leaders attend to promote their climate efforts. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago ‘Politicians actually taking action’: five world mayors defying climate

From Sierra Leone to Milan, cities are introducing their own rules and innovations in the face of rising temperaturesWooden stakes bearing pictures of young men were driven into the yellow sands of Copacabana beach this week, opposite Rio de Janeiro’s swanky hotels on Avenida Atlântica where 300 mayors and their entourages were staying during the C40 World Mayors Summit.Smiling up at the mayors in their hotel suites were photographs of four officers killed in what was the deadliest police raid in Brazilian history, just a few days before the summit. A further 117 people were killed in the operation in two of Rio’s largest clusters of favelas – the Complexo do Alemão and the Complexo da Penha – in what the police said was a clampdown on organised crime. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago ‘Politicians actually taking action’: six world mayors defying climate

From Sierra Leone to Milan, cities are introducing their own rules and innovations in the face of rising temperaturesWooden stakes bearing pictures of young men were driven into the yellow sands of Copacabana beach this week, opposite Rio de Janeiro’s swanky hotels on Avenida Atlântica where 300 mayors and their entourages were staying during the C40 World Mayors Summit.Smiling up at the mayors in their hotel suites were photographs of four officers killed in what was the deadliest police raid in Brazilian history, just a few days before the summit. A further 117 people were killed in the operation in two of Rio’s largest clusters of favelas – the Complexo do Alemão and the Complexo da Penha – in what the police said was a clampdown on organised crime. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago The era of fine speeches and good intentions is over. Brazil’s Cop30 will be about action | Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

This is our message to world leaders: make this the ‘Cop of truth’, before people lose faithLuiz Inácio Lula da Silva is the president of BrazilToday, in the Brazilian Amazon, the Belém summit opens ahead of the 30th United Nations climate change conference (Cop30). I have convened world leaders in the days leading up to the conference so that we can all commit to acting with the urgency the climate crisis demands.If we fail to move beyond speeches into real action, our societies will lose faith – not only in the Cops, but in multilateralism and international politics more broadly. That is why I have summoned leaders to the Amazon: to make this the “Cop of truth”, the moment we demonstrate the seriousness of our shared commitment to the planet.Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is the president of Brazil Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Starmer defies Farage on net zero as he vows 'full speed' on clean energy at COP30 summit in Brazil

World Leaders, Prince William, campaigners and academics are gathering at the climate change conference in Belem in the Amazon region

Politics

2 w. ago Kemi Badenoch: You're better off on welfare than in work under Labour

The Tory leader warned that Keir Starmer was creating a climate where being on benefits was preferable to having a job - unless you happened to work for government itself.

Economics

2 w. ago Starmer affirms UK commitment to climate action ahead of Cop30 summit

Starmer has reiterated the government’s dedication to clean energy goals and the UK’s role as a global climate leader

Politics

2 w. ago Starmer says he ‘hasn’t changed his mind’ on climate action before Cop30 summit

The Prime Minister reaffirmed his commitment to the Government’s clean energy ambitions and the UK’s role as a global climate leader.

Politics

2 w. ago On eve of UN climate talks in Brazil, a call for less talking and more doing

World leaders and diplomats have gathered for 30 years to tackle climate change, but progress has been slow

Politics

2 w. ago DOMINIC LAWSON: Why can't our leaders be as hypocritical as Brazil, which is hosting the Cop climate summit

Almost certainly, no nation will be jetting out its plenipotentiaries in greater numbers than the United Kingdom has this week to Brazil.

Politics